(Mental Floss) -- Over the centuries, people have had some very good reasons to dress up like a member of the opposite sex. 

And I'm not talking about people who live this way out of personal preference, or those who dress up for theater and entertainment. 

Here are just five examples. 

1. Cross-dressing to join the army 

Until recently, women have rarely been allowed to serve as soldiers. 

So what was a gal to do if she wanted to serve her country? Naturally, disguise herself as a man and join the troops. 

At least 400 Civil War soldiers were women in drag. These included Union Army soldier "Frank Thompson" (also known as Sarah Edmonds), whose small frame and feminine mannerisms (rather than causing suspicion) made her an ideal spy, as she could spy on the Confederates disguised as... a woman! 

She wasn't the first woman to don a male disguise and join the army, though. During the Revolutionary War, women fought as men on both sides. 

Hannah Snell, for example, joined the British army to find her husband, who had walked out on her to enlist. 

Once her true sex was discovered (thanks to a pesky groin injury), she became a national celebrity in Britain, and made a post-war career of performing in bars as the "Female Warrior." Mental Floss: The Confederacy's plan to conquer Latin America 

2. Cross-dressing to keep a royal family together 

With all the power play that went on in the court, the French royal family would go to great lengths to avoid sibling rivalry. In one of the more extreme cases, Philippe I, Duke of Orleans (1640-1701), was raised as a girl to discourage him from any political or military aspirations.  What are the answers to this following set of questions: 1. Were women always allowed in the military?
2. How could a women participate, despite the regulations against it?
3. During which war did this happen?
4. Was it limited to only one side of the conflict?
5. What name did Sarah Edmonds use to enlist?
6. In what war did she fight?
7. How many other women joined her?
8. Sarah's statue made her an ideal candidate for what position?
9. Why did Hannah Snell join the army?
10. Which army had he joined?
11. Did Hannah become famous?
12. How was she caught?
13. Where did she perform?
14. As what character?
15. Which royal family member was raised as a member of the opposite sex?
16. When did he live?
17. What did his family want to discourage him from?
18. What type of competition was being avoided?
19. In what country did Hannah Snell become famous after her discharge?
Answer: 1. no
2. disguise herself as a man
3. Revolutionary War
4. no
5. Frank Thompson
6. Civil War
7. At least 400
8. a spy
9. to find her husband
10. the British army
11. yes
12. a groin injury
13. bars
14. the "Female Warrior"
15. Philippe I
16. 1640-1701
17. political or military aspirations
18. sibling rivalry
19. Britain

Problem: CHAPTER V 

THE TOMATO FINCA 

Three weeks had passed since his interview with Austin before Jefferson was ready to sail, and he spent most of the time in strenuous activity. He had cabled to England for a big centrifugal pump and a second-hand locomotive-type boiler, while, when they arrived, Macallister said that five hundred pounds would not tempt him to raise full steam on the latter. He also purchased a broken-down launch, and, though she was cheap, the cost of her and the pump, with other necessaries, made a considerable hole in his remaining Â£2,000. It was for this reason he undertook to make the needful repairs himself, with the help of a steamer's donkey-man who had somehow got left behind, while Austin and Macallister spent most of the week during which the _Estremedura_ lay at Las Palmas in the workshop he had extemporised. He appeared to know a little about machinery, and could, at least, handle hack-saw and file in a fashion which moved Macallister to approbation, while Austin noticed that the latter's sardonic smile became less frequent as he and the American worked together. 

Jefferson was grimly in earnest, and it was evident that his thoroughness, which overlooked nothing, compelled the engineer's admiration. It also occurred to Austin that, while there are many ways in which a lover may prove his devotion, few other men would probably have cared for the one Jefferson had undertaken. He was not a very knightly figure when he emerged, smeared with rust and scale, from the second-hand boiler, or crawled about the launch's engines with blackened face and hands; but Austin, who remembered it was for Muriel Gascoyne he had staked all his little capital in that desperate venture, forebore to smile. He knew rather better than Jefferson did that it was a very forlorn hope indeed the latter was venturing on. One cannot heave a stranded steamer off without strenuous physical exertion, and the white man who attempts the latter in a good many parts of Western Africa incontinently dies. 
1. What chapter are we discussing?
2. What is it called?
3. How has Jefferson spent the last three weeks?
4. How much money did he have remaining?
5. What was he getting ready to do?
6. What was one thing he bought?
7. Where did he get it?
8. What else did he buy?
9. Was it new?
10. Was it any good?
11. What else did he buy?
12. Did he have enough money for it all?
13. Was he able to pay for the repairs?
14. How did he get the repairs done?
15. Who helped him?
Answer: 1. CHAPTER V
2. THE TOMATO FINCA
3. In strenuous activity.
4. £2,000.
5. To sail
6. Centrifugal pump
7. England
8. Locomotive-type boiler
9. No
10. No
11. A launch
12. Yes
13. No
14. He did them
15. A steamer's donkey-man

question: Laura wanted to go to the park and play because she wanted to see her friends. When she got to the park Laura did not see anyone. After looking, she saw her friend George by the basketball hoop. George was playing all by himself. George was happy when he saw Laura. Laura and George played basketball they saw the ice cream man driving in his truck. George asked Laura if she wanted him to buy her an ice cream cone. Laura said she would like him to do that. Laura sat on the bench as George walked to the ice cream truck. Laura looked in the sky and saw a pretty bird flying in a large circle. The bird flew away. George came back with two ice cream cones. One of the ice cream cones had rainbow sprinkles on it. George gave the ice cream cone with sprinkles to Laura. George and Laura sat on the bench and watched a group of boys play football as they ate their ice cream cones. One of the boys broke his leg. When George and Laura were finished with their ice cream, Laura ran home before the street lights came on.
1. Why did Laura want to go to the park?
2. Did she see them when she got there?
3. Which of her friends did she end up running into?
4. Who was he playing with?
5. What did they do before they saw the ice cream truck?
6. Did Laura want ice cream?
7. Who paid for it?
8. What kind did he get for her?
9. Where did Laura wait while George was getting the ice cream?
10. What did they do while eating the ice cream?
11. Did any of the boys get injured?
****
answer:
1. she wanted to see her friends
2. no
3. George
4. no one
5. Laura and George played basketball
6. yes
7. George
8. an ice cream cone with sprinkles
9. on a bench
10. watched a group of boys play footbal
11. yes